The Ghazi Attack movie review roundup: Watch this film for production design, performances

Debutant director Sankalp Reddy's film The Ghazi Attack, produced by Dharma Productions, released on this weekend with seven other films (Irada, Running Shaadi, Hidden Figures, Silence, Lego Batman and John Wick 2). And yet, a lot of reviewers have said positive things about this Rana Daggubati starrer. It also stars Taapsee Pannu, Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni, Rahul Singh, and Om Puri.

The poster of The Ghazi attack.

The film is based underwater, mostly in an Indian submarine titled s-21, under the command of one Captain Rannvijay Singh (Kay Kay Menon). The action of the film begins as they head towards the Bay of Bengal to recce for a possibly dangerous intrusion based on internal reports. Singh's deputy Lieutenant Commander Arjun Verma (Daggubati), and Officer Devraj (Atul Kulkarni) help in finding the enemy submarine that poses as a threat, titled PNS Ghazi.

Clearly, some amount of effort has gone into understanding the makings of a submarine, running of a ship, and even firing of torpedoes and laying of landmines at sea. The film doesn’t cut corners on under-water shots of ships damaged, leaking, hissing and sputtering, even though the first shot of Singh and Arjun first venturing into the unknown is Titanically fake.

Given the scale of his ambitious project and limited resources at hand, debutant director Sankalp Reddy deserves a pat on the back for making an engaging film. You wish the execution was more nuanced and performances a tad understated but Sankalp makes you invest in his characters nonetheless.

The Ghazi Attack is an interesting choice for this weekend unless you aren’t willing to watch a patriotic film which the makers haven’t projected it as at all. But don’t expect the chills you get after seeing films like Border, Chak De India, Rang De Basanti or Dangal. Watch it for its performances and technicalities

The production design appears exceptional, because it's unexpected. We don't make such movies in India, even while we've been watching such from the West since forever (Das Boot came out in 1981, for God's sake!). The captain of this sturdy ship, or director (Sankalp Reddy), as it were, I'm told, is a young first-time filmmaker from Hyderabad. Now that's the guy to watch out for. As is his debut.

The film packs in enough near-collisions, engine failures and torpedo evasions to keep you excited through most of the 125 minutes that make up its runtime. Cumulatively, The Ghazi Attack makes for a history worthy of repeating on the big screen.